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In one of the most substantive diplomatic engagements between India and the Caribbean, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar concluded a packed two-day official visit to Trinidad and Tobago on May 9, delivering eight signed agreements, a prosthetics center inauguration, 2,000 laptops for schoolchildren, and a renewed strategic vision for one of India’s closest diaspora-linked partnerships in the Western Hemisphere.
Jaishankar arrived at a ceremonial welcome from Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Minister Sean Sobers before heading to substantive talks with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who has been rebuilding bridges with New Delhi since returning to power.
Their wide-ranging discussions canvassed the full spectrum of bilateral ties and charted new ground in areas where both nations see strategic convergence.
The visit carried unmistakable political weight as it served as a formal stocktaking of commitments made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his own landmark trip to Port of Spain in July 2025, the first visit by an Indian prime minister to the twin-island republic in decades. Jaishankar’s presence signaled that those pledges were not ceremonial, but operational.
“The Girmitiya descendants are not just a community abroad, they are the living foundation of everything that binds India and Trinidad together.”
At Parliament, where Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar delivered a formal statement in his honor, Jaishankar held separate meetings with Senate President Wade Mark and House Speaker Jagdeo Singh, underlining that India’s engagement extends well beyond the executive branch and into the legislative fabric of the state.
The signing ceremony was the centerpiece of the visit. Eight Memorandums of Understanding were inked, covering areas including tourism, solarization of T&T’s Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs building, vector control, infrastructure upgrade of Nelson Island where the Indian immigrants were stayed initially, and for setting up of an Indian Chair on Ayurveda at the University of the West Indies, a move that embeds Indian soft power directly into the region’s premier academic institution, as per the MEA statement.
In healthcare, a sector India has leveraged masterfully through its global diplomacy. The two sides acknowledged the importance of collaboration in the field of healthcare and pharmaceuticals, including the successful completion of the Artificial Limb Fitment Camp (Jaipur Foot) in T&T for 800 beneficiaries as announced by PM Modi last year.
PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar and EAM jointly inaugurated the National Prosthetics Centre of T&T in Penal.
Jaishankar personally handed over the first tranche of 2,000 laptops to schoolchildren, a high-visibility delivery of an Indian-funded technology initiative and cut the ribbon on an agro-processing facility in Couva built with Indian assistance, demonstrating the tangible, on-the-ground character of the partnership, according to an MEA statement.
Both governments confirmed they will expand cooperation in infrastructure, cybersecurity and forensics, digital public infrastructure, and cultural exchange. They also reaffirmed coordinated positioning in multilateral forums, particularly on issues that define the Global South agenda at the United Nations and beyond.
Jaishankar paid his respects at the Mahatma Gandhi bust at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Cultural Cooperation and visited the Dattatreya Mandir and the towering Hanuman Murti in Central Trinidad, locations that carry profound meaning for the Indian-origin community.
Addressing the Indian diaspora who arrived on these shores under the Girmitiya system beginning in 1845, Jaishankar struck an emotional chord, praising their resilience and describing them as the irreplaceable human foundation of the bilateral relationship.
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